Labor day weekend I decided to take a backwoods canoe trip with a buddy at work. It was a 60km canoe trip from Lake Louise to Banff. This is a 2 day trip that landed us at a remote camp site along the river the first night. The picture below is the canoe we rented in Calgary and drove to Lake Louise to put in. In the background is the famous Fairmont Springs Hotel. We made a pit stop here to take advantage of the nicest 'facilities' available before we roughed it in the woods.
The canoe looks pretty big for the car but it had to be long enough enough supplies for 2 days.
This picture is the first class II rapid we hit and almost capsized. We took on about 2-3 inches of water going through. It was enough to soak my blanket and most of my dry clothes. Lesson Learned - keep clothes and sleeping gear in a dry bag.
Right after we took on water we had to remove everything and flip the canoe to dry it out. Next time we decided to pay attention and follow the 'portage' signs.
I took the stern for the whole trip due to the fact that Andrew knew how to steer like a champ.
The first day was 5.5 hours on the river and the current was pretty strong so we covered just over half the trip. The water was crystal clear and the weather could not have been better.
The river follows a train track for most of the way so we saw quite a few trains during our adventure.
Yes.. that is a grizzly bear right across from the river where we just pitched a tent and brought out the steaks we were about to grill for dinner. Step 1 - put the food in rope and pull rope to bring food as high in tree as possible. Step 2 - grab bear mace. Step 3- pee in pants cause Ive never been so scared.
Step 4 - Pee in pants even more cause the bear crossed the river just upstream to come to our side.
After about 30 minutes of not knowing where the bear went and seeing the sun creep lower we had to start a fire so we could cook and eat. We only got about half way through cooking before it was dark. The rest of dinner was cooked and eaten with a flashlight and wet pants. We never did see the bear again but it was pitch black out so for all we know he could have been 5 ft away watching us.
The next morning I woke up with about 1 hour of sleep. 4 hours of shivering because my feet never defrosted and 4 hours of worrying about the bear. This is our gear before it went in the canoe. A little colder the next day (~50 F) but it warmed up pretty quick once the sun rose.
The next time we saw rapids and a portage sign we followed it and went around the rapids. Just crossed our fingers that a train didnt come.
Overall an awesome trip. Next year - Edmonton to Fort McMurray via Athabasca river (~480 km)
No comments:
Post a Comment